Archives Blog

Wishing you had saved that old Lyme-Old Lyme High School Yearbook? We can help.

The Lyme Local History Archive now has Lyme-Old Lyme High School yearbooks from 1958 through 1998! Gloria M. Maddocks, the Principal’s secretary for 42 years, originally collected these yearbooks, which were generously donated by her nephew, Peter Evankow. Gloria clearly had a close connection with the students, writing each graduating class a congratulatory letter (some of which were found tucked into their respective yearbooks). Thanks to Gloria and Peter, anyone who wants to look up

Read More >>

Tiffany Farm photo features Leon Tiffany using latest technology

Archives don’t just store physical documents; they also take responsibility for digital items like this fabulous scan given by the Tiffany family. In this striking image Leon H. Tiffany, Sr. (1903-1982) surveys the iconic outline of Tiffany Farms from his tractor, while holding the microphone of a Vocaline JRC 400 radio transceiver also known as an AM radio telephone or, in modern parlance, a CB radio. That radio came out in 1956, helping to date

Read More >>

Gravestone Images Unique to Lyme

The grave of Captain Samuel Selden (who died in 1745 at age 50) is in Marvin Cemetery on Hamburg Road, a little south of Mt. Archer Road. Lyme’s 18th century headstones are unusual: not a single one features a winged death’s head, usually depicted across New England as a skull sporting a prominent set of grimacing (occasionally grinning) teeth, as depicted in this local news article. Instead of these stark reminders of the terrifying potential

Read More >>

Thank you for a successful 2023 George House Tag Sale!

The 2023 George House Tag Sale was held at the Public Hall on Saturday, September 16 from 9 am to 1 pm. Thanks to the generous support of our community with donations of wonderful items, our hardworking volunteers who helped to stage and price the donated items, and a great turnout of shoppers on sale day despite the blustery remnants of Hurricane Lee, we had a very successful sale. We raised over $4000 which will

Read More >>

2023 News from the Bacdayan Local History Archives

Archivist Julie Hughes has been busy as always in the Archives Room at the Lyme Public Library. She is in residence on Thursdays from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Here are some of the recent projects that she and community volunteer Ann Brubaker have been working on: All DVDs with moving image content in the collection have been digitized Fifteen additional Polly Murray audio cassettes have been digitized, bringing the total up to 102 Work

Read More >>

4th Quarter 2022 Update from the Archives

Our volunteer archivist Julie Hughes and expert community volunteer Ann Brubaker have been busy accessioning and reconciling items in our collection at the Bacdayan Local History Archives in the Lyme Public Library. Among their accomplishments this quarter: Twenty-five Polly Murray audio cassettes have been digitized, bringing the total up to sixty-seven. Work on two large boxes of documents and ledgers from papers of the fraternal order the Knights of Pythias, ca. 1920-1940, has been completed.

Read More >>

Local History Archives Now a Family Search Affiliate!

The Bacdayan Local History Archives at the Lyme Public Library is now an Affiliate Library for FamilySearch. FamilySearch is an international nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records to help people research their ancestors and family history. As an affiliate library, the Archives can provide access to additional digital records not available to the general public. Currently, there are about 400 million original records available in a digital format to affiliate libraries, including: Land and

Read More >>

Historic Lyme Facebook page

Inspired by the treasure trove of history in our Archives, we have a Facebook Page to share memories and photos of Lyme, called Historic Lyme. We invite you to upload images and memories for community members who may reminisce with you, or for new members to our town to enjoy. If you have an old photo you would like to scan for uploading, our Archivist Julie Hughes would be delighted to help you! Julie is

Read More >>

Archive Posts

Archive Posts  These posts, taken together, reflect the broad range in the subject matter, time period and types of materials about Lyme held in the Archives.  

Read More >>

World War I Posters

The centenary of America’s entry into World War One is April 6, 2017. The United States had held a neutral position with respect to the war from 1914 to 1917. Growing sympathy from the American public for the European nations under attack by Germany and the German aggression against the U.S. maritime industry led the U.S. Congress to declare war on Germany. Twenty-eight men and women from Lyme, CT enlisted or were drafted into national service.

Read More >>